Food ingredients derived from viscous barley grain and the process of making

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are barley flour compositions having beta glucan viscosity between 100 to 3000 cps and a concentration of long chained beta glucan fibers and methods to produce these flour compositions. Also disclosed are high viscosity, low oil, barley flour fractions, high tocotrienol, low viscosity pearling fractions and methods to produce these compositions.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to food products and their method ofproduction. More specifically, the present invention relates toclinically active hypocholesterolaemic food ingredients with elevatedlevels of viscous beta glucan made from specially selected viscous waxyhulless and waxy hulless short awn barley varieties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

High fiber products are generally considered to be healthful foods andfood ingredients. There are two basic types of fiber: soluble andinsoluble. Soluble fiber is soluble in aqueous solutions while insolublefiber is not. Insoluble fiber will improve regularity and bulk formationbut may do very little to lower serum cholesterol. Indeed some studiesindicate that, depending on the source, insoluble fiber may actuallyincrease serum cholesterol. Soluble fiber has been strongly linked toregularity and cholesterol reduction, and less strongly to sugarregulation in diabetics and colon cancer prevention.

Soluble fiber is highly viscous when it goes into solution and thissticky material has the capacity to tie up cholesterol precursors suchas bile salts, excess sugar, and other potential carcinogenic compoundsand flush them out of the body as fecal material. The water holdingcapacity of this material has the effect of forming a softer, moreefficiently moving stool and the viscosity of this material lubricatesthe intestines. This is an aid to people with intestinal wall weaknessor sensitivity that results in intestinal bleeding. Unfortunatelysoluble fiber is currently associated with large amounts of harshinsoluble fiber in products such as oat bran concentrate. The harshinsoluble fiber in such products as oat bran concentrate can tear at theintestinal walls during passage, causing bleeding and thus negating thepositive effect of the soluble fiber with which it coexists.

There are many forms of soluble fiber that are used as food ingredients,many are categorized as gums. Some examples of soluble fiber foodingredients or food components are guar gum, gum Arabic, carrageenin,pectin, psyllium, and beta glucan. Most of these products are relativeexpensive. Pectin is relatively less expensive, plentiful and is foundin fruit pulp. However, pectins can set up a hard gel in the intestinesand large amounts of this material can cause intestinal blockages.

Another soluble fiber is beta glucan, or beta 1-4/1-3 glucosyl pyranosepolymer. Beta glucan occurs in two common grain cereals, oats and barleywhich contains 5-7% beta glucan and is present in the cell walls alongwith other forms of fiber such as cellulose and arabinoxylan. Between20-70% of the beta glucan found in oats and barley is soluble in warmwater at 45° C. Cellulose, which is completely insoluble in warm water,is a straight chain of beta 1-4 linked glucose molecules. Beta glucanhas the same beta 1-4 linkages but is staggered having beta 1-3 linkagesafter 4-6 beta 1-4 linkages. This results in a laminated macro-molecule.This general beta glucan structure will continue for 20,000 to 100,000glucose units. The laminations allow water molecules to fit in betweenthe beta 1-4 layers which allows beta glucan to hydrolyze.

Beta glucan occurs as fibers in the cell wall of the starchy endospermin barley seed. Beta glucans coexist in the cell with preformed betaglucanases which are enzymes that break up beta glucan. Beta glucanasesare released or activated as the seed is hydrated. Additionally as theseeds germinate, newly made beta glucanase is released from thescutellum and from the aleurone layer of the seed into the endosperm.Thus, as water is added to the seed, beta glucans are degraded andbroken down into smaller units through the activity of beta glucanase.Additionally any excessive drying or dry heat will cause these betaglucan chains to break up, which in turn causes the all importantfunction of viscosity to be lost.

Oats beta glucan, tends to be concentrated in the bran, which is theouter layer of the seed. When concentrated in oat bran fiber, the betaglucan is less than half the total fiber content with insoluble fiberbeing the major fiber component. Thus the harshness of the coarse branfiber must be accepted along with the benefits of the soluble betaglucan. Additionally, oats does not have a large millable endosperm inwhich starch, protein, and other millable products can be stored.

However, barley is a millable grain and beta glucan is concentrated inthe starchy endosperm, not in the bran layer. Thus, barley beta glucanin the endosperm cell walls can be concentrated without accumulatinginsoluble harsh bran fiber. Barley can be milled or pearled to removeharsh bran fiber and germs. Pearling has the additional advantage ofreducing oil content, an unwanted component of any soluble fiberconcentrate. In 1981 (Fox, G. J. Dissertation, Montana State University,1981) Fox reported that a particular variant of barley, waxy hulless,contained unusually high levels of beta glucan activity measured asviscosity, showing 4.0-10.0 times that found in normal hulled barley.Viscosity was doubled when the short awn gene was added to produce waxyhulless short awn barley. Actual beta glucan content was found to be1.5-2.0 times that of normal barley in waxy hulless and waxy hullessshort awn barley (C. E. Fastnaught et al, Genetic and environmentalvariations in beta glucan content and quality parameters of barley forfood, submitted for publication to Crop Sci., 1995). In the last 10years a great deal of research has been concentrated toward thedevelopment of hypocholesterolaemic foods and food ingredients from oatsand barley with special emphasis on the high beta glucan waxy hullessbarley. One problem is that inconsistent results have arisen fromclinical studies on the hypocholesterolaemic efficacy of the two betaglucan bearing grains, oats and barley. (R. K. Newman, et al., CerealChem. 69(3) 240-244, 1989; J. G. Fadel, et al., Nutr. Rep. Int., 35:1049-1054, 1987). This inconsistency is due in part to the fact that thefunctional properties of the beta glucan are not directly related toit's content but to the viscosity that is produced in the intestines (S.Bengtsson, et al., J. Sci. Food Agric., 39: 151-161, 1990; T. S. Kahlon,et al., Cereal Chem., 70(4) 435-440, 1993; J. Raloff, Food Tech.,August, 1991). Intestinal viscosity is also the basis for the sugar andfecal regulation associated with soluble fiber. In almost all clinicalstudies the beta glucan content of the starting material is determinedbut not the functionality (i.e. viscosity). It is possible to havematerial with high levels of beta glucan but zero functionality withviscosity less than 5 cps, (R. K. Newman, et al., Cereal Food Worlds,34: 883-886, 1989; C. E. Fastnaught, et al., 1995).

Thus, previous efforts to concentrate clinically effective beta glucanhave failed because there has been no effort to concentrate the truefunctional property of the beta glucan, which is viscosity.

Barley is somewhat unique in that it contains elevated levels of anothercholesterol inhibitor, tocotrienol which is a vitamin E derivative thatoccurs in barley pearlings, and lowers serum cholesterol levels byinterfering with the biosynthesis of cholesterol. This is a completelydifferent mechanism for serum cholesterol reduction than that producedby soluble fiber.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of producing clinically activeviscous long chained beta glucan concentrates such as flours and bransand purified isolates. One method of the present invention includes thesteps of: 1) selecting barley grain having a waxy hulless genotype andviscosity greater than about 15 cps and long chained beta glucanconcentration greater than about 1.0×10⁵ /ml of a 5% aqueous floursuspension; 2) milling said grain in such a manner to approximate thegrind of a mill fitted with a 0.5 mm screen to generate a coarse barleyflour; 3) screening the coarse barley flour over approximately a 420micron mesh screen to remove the coarse bran fraction; 4) collecting theparticles passing the approximately 420 micron mesh screen as a barleyflour fraction; 5) classifying the barley flour fraction using meshscreens that range from about 250 to about 74 microns; 6) analyzing theresultant flour fractions for beta glucan viscosity, insuring thatmeasured values range from about 100 to about 3000 cps; and 7) analyzingthe resultant flour fractions for long chained beta glucanconcentration, insuring that measured values range from about 1.0×10⁶ toabout 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a 5% aqueous flour suspension.

In another method of the present invention, a high viscosity, low oilwaxy hulless barley flour having beta glucan viscosity between about 100and about 3000 cps, a concentration of long chained beta glucan fibers,and an oil content of less than about 2%, produced by a processcomprising: 1) selecting barley grain having a waxy hulless genotype andviscosity greater than about 15 cps and long chained beta glucanconcentration greater than about 1.0⁵ ×10/ml of a 5% aqueous floursuspension; 2) pearling said barley grain in such a manner that about10% to about 20% of the seed including bran and germ layers, is abradedaway; 3) milling said barley grain in such a manner to approximate thegrind of a mill fitted with a 0.5 mm screen to generate a coarse barleyflour; 4) screening the coarse barley flour over approximately a 420micron mesh screen to remove remaining coarse bran fraction; 5)collecting the particles passing the approximately 420 micron meshscreen as a barley flour fraction; 6) classifying the barley flourfraction employing mesh screens that range from about 250 to about 74microns; 7) analyzing the resultant flour fractions for beta glucanviscosity, insuring that measured values range from about 100 to about3000 cps; and 8) analyzing the resultant flour fractions for longchained beta glucan concentration, insuring that measured values rangefrom about 1.0×10⁶ to about 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a 5% aqueous floursuspension.

The present invention further relates to 1) a high viscosity waxyhulless barley flour fraction with beta glucan viscosity between abut100 to about 3000 cps and a concentration of long chained beta glucanfibers and 2) a high viscosity, low oil, waxy hulless barley flourhaving flour fractions with beta glucan viscosity between about 100 andabout 3000 cps, a concentration of long chained beta glucan fibers, andan oil content of less than 2%.

The present invention further relates to a waxy hulless, hightocotrienol, low viscosity pearling fraction with a tocotrienolconcentration of between about 60 and about 75 mg/kg and to a method ofproducing this composition.

The present invention further relates to a purified long chained, waxyhulled, beta glucan isolate having purity of greater than 90% withendogenous starch and protein as the main impurities, and to a method ofproducing this isolate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In order to provide an understanding of several of the terms used in thespecification and claims, the following definitions are provided:

Beta Glucan--the term beta glucan (beta 1-4/1-3 glucosyl pyranosepolymer) is intended to refer to the name of a non starchypolysaccharide in which individual glucose molecules (20,000-1,000,000)are linked by beta 1-4 and beta 1-3 linkages. Beta Glucan is soluble inwarm water (40-45 degrees Centigrade), cellulose is insoluble in water.Beta glucan is the main structural material in the cell walls of barleyand oat grain.

Beta Glucan Chain Analysis--As used herein, the term beta glucan chainanalysis is intended to refer to a microscopic test in which the actuallength and concentration of beta glucan chain fiber is measured with amicroscope (100×-400×).

Beta Glucan Concentrate--the term beta glucan concentrate is intended todescribe any grain fraction derived through either dry milling or wetmilling procedures that have levels of beta glucan that are appreciablyhigher than the starting grain material, measured either as viscosity oras a percentage.

Beta Glucan Viscosity--the term beta glucan viscosity describes thefriction that is created in a solution by the presence of beta glucanchains (fibers) and is measured in cps. All beta glucan viscositiesreported herein are measured on a 5% aqueous suspension of ground grainor ground grain fractions.

Bran--the term bran describes the portion of a whole ground flour ormeal that when sieved sits on a U.S. #40 sieve.

Centipoise Units (cps)--the term Centipoise Units or (cps) is the nameof the units commonly used to measure viscosity. By definition thefundamental unit of viscosity measurement is the "Poise", which is amaterial requiring a sheer stress of one dyne per square centimeter toproduce a sheer of one inverse second, which has a viscosity of onepoise or 100 centipoise.

Chain Length--the term chain length is a measure of beta glucan fiberlength in micron, millimeters, or centimeters. Such measurements can beaccomplished by mounting a measured portion (1/10th of a drop) of a betaglucan solution on a calibrated slide and viewing under 100× to 400×magnification. Long beta glucan chains are 1 mm-6 mm in length and 2-10microns in diameter.

Course Flour--the term course flour refers to a whole grained unsiftedand unsieved flour.

Drying Temperatures--the term drying temperatures refers to the ambientair temperature either naturally or artificially applied to seed as itdrys to ripened grain (14% to 7% moisture). Commercial driers reachtemperatures exceeding 200 degrees Fahrenheit on circulating grain. Theactual seed temperature depends on exposure time and moisture content ofthe seed when exposed to these drying temperatures.

Fine Flour--the term fine flour describes that portion of a whole flourmeal that passes a U.S. #120 mesh screen.

Flour--the term flour is that portion of a whole grained flour thatpasses a U.S. #40 mesh sieve.

Hammer Mill System--the term hammer mill system refers to an industrialgrinder in which rotating hammers consisting of steel bars thatpulverize the grain create a centrifugal force which forces thepulverized grain through a screen that has holes that may vary from 1/64to 6/64 inch in diameter. The smaller that the screen is in holediameter the finer the resultant flour/meal.

High Starch Flour Fraction--the term high starch flower fractiondescribes the fine to very fine flours derived from waxy hulless barleysthat are very high in starch, i.e., 60 to 70%, as compared to the otherflour fractions.

Long Chained Beta Glucan Fibers--the term long chained beta glucanfibers describes beta glucan fibers that are about 1 mm to about 6 mm inlength and about 2 to about 10 microns in diameter.

Low Viscosity--the term low viscosity is defined as having less thanabout 5 cps.

Milling--the term milling refers to the grinding, with or withoutsifting and sieving of grain to produce a flour or meal. Flour is humanfood, meal may or may not be human food, and connotes a coarser grindthan flour.

Pearling--the term pearling refers to a form of incomplete milling inwhich the grain is rotated (tumbled) over an abrasive surface in orderto remove a portion of the outer seed layers or hulls. Hulled grain likebarley or rice are routinely pearled to remove the adhering hulls.Hulless gains like wheat corn on hulless barley can be pearled to removethe bran layer or the pericarp/aleurone seed layer, prior to grainmilling, resulting in a cleaner flour with less bran.

Pin Milling--the term pin milling refers to another centrifugal grindingsystem in which grain is fed into a two-sided disc with steel pin on oneor both sides, one side of the disc rotates rapidly. The high radialspeed of the rotating disc causes pulverization of the whirring grain asit impacts on the numerous steel pins. The mill may or may not be fittedwith an exit screen. Generally this type of mill produces very fineflour.

Roller Break Mill Reflux System--the term roller break mill refluxsystem refers to a milling scheme that includes a hammer mill tocontinually regrind certain sieve fractions until they are eliminated.For example, the over U.S. #40 sieve, bran fraction can be directed to ahammer mill, ground, resifted, and sieved until no more materialcollects on the U.S. #40 sieve. The bran is now incorporated into theother flour fractions.

Roller Break Milling System--the term roller break milling system refersto the type of mills that are used today to produce the bread, pastry,and all purpose flours used in commercial and home baking. In thissystem the grain is fed into a series of paired variable speed rotatingdrums that start by breaking open the seed and releasing starch andprotein and continue the process with continued sifting sieving, and airpurification of the flour. An infinite combinations of regrinding,resifting, resieving, and repurification of the flour can take place insuch a system. Out of this system all the classes of flour and bran canbe derived.

U.S. Sieve Number--the term U.S. sieve number refers to the size ofsieve openings. Individual sieves that can be combined to form a stackwith graduation to smaller sieve openings from top to bottom. A list ofcommon U.S. sieves is depicted below:

    ______________________________________                                        U.S. Sieve # Sieve openings (microns)                                         ______________________________________                                         20          840                                                               40          420                                                               60          250                                                               80          180                                                              100          150                                                              120          125                                                              140          103                                                              170           88                                                              200           74                                                              230           62                                                              325           44                                                              400           33                                                              ______________________________________                                    

Udy Cyclone Mill System--the term Udy cyclone mill system refers to ahigh speed laboratory grinder that uses centrifugal force to spin fedgrain in a radial plane across a screen with holes 0.25 mm to 2.0 mm indiameter. The smaller holed screens yield finer flour/meal, while thelarger holed screens yield coarser flour/meal.

Very Fine Flour--the term very fine flour describes that portion of awhole gained meal that passes a U.S. #140 sieve.

Viscosity--the term viscosity is the measure of fluid friction. A highlyviscous material is one that possesses a great deal of internalfriction, it will not pour or spread as easily as material of lesserviscosity.

Whole (grained) Flour--As used herein, the term whole (grained) flourdescribes a whole meal derived from a grain that has been ground by anynumber of methods.

The growing of barley for high beta glucan products requires no specialtreatment. Normal agronomic practices producing normal feed or maltingbarley will suffice. However, the grain must be grown in an environmentthat is semi-arid with low levels of relative humidity around thedeveloping seed. The semi-arid western U.S. and the desert climate ofthe southwest are excellent environments to grow high beta glucanbarley. Grain condition at or just prior to harvest is essential forseed quality. If standing grain is subjected to prolonged exposure torain or other types of moisture such as dew, mist, sprinkler irrigation,etc., for a period greater than 24 hours, the beta glucan quality may belost. If grain is swathed a single rain may compromise quality becauseof the reduced drying rate of swathed grain. If grain is harvested byeither combining or gleaning (picking up grain swaths) at a moisture toohigh for stable storage, i.e. greater than 14% moisture, then the grainmust be dried. As long as the grain temperatures during drying do notexceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the grain quality is preserved.

Selected barley grain, that is bright, with no staining, no visiblesigns of sprouting or germination, and no evidence of mold growth, i.e.,no mycelia or musty odor, and good germination power of 90% or better.This selected grain is potentially suitable as starting material forhigh beta glucan products. Only sound, bright, sweet smelling barleygrain should be selected for the production of high quality beta glucanproducts.

Selected grain was tested for beta glucan viscosity levels. Arepresentative 100 gram sample of grain was ground in a Udy Cyclone Millfitted with a 0.5 mm screen into a fine meal. An aqueous solution/slurryadjusted to a pH of 3.0-2.5 with 5 parts barley, 95 parts acidifiedwater was formed. This solution was placed into a 45 degree Centigradewarm water bath and gently stirred for 50 minutes bringing beta glucanchain into solution or suspension. After the long chained beta glucanextraction has been completed the solution or suspension was allowed tocool in a cold water bath for 10 minutes. This allowed the starchgranules to settle and temperature to decrease to 26 degrees centigrade,or approximately room temperature. The lack of centrifugation is animportant departure from normal accepted lab procedure in the treatmentof this solution/suspension. The centrifugation step can spin down andbreak the long chained beta glucans. In the procedure described hereinthese long chained beta glucans are preserved and saved by allowinggentle gravitational settling rather than the harsh shearing centrifugalforces that can shear and break the beta glucan chains. Centrifugationmay also spin long chained beta glucans down into the solid pellet andsince viscosity is tested on the liquid supernatant above the pellet orsolid settlings, this results in erroneously low viscosity readings. Theviscosity of the supernatant is measured by an electrical viscometer.This meter measures the resistance that a revolving spindle records asit is rotated through the suspension/solution. Or as a falling ballapparatus, it measures the speed in seconds of a small, calibrated,falling ball as it falls down the length of a calibrated cylinder filledwith a measured volume of solution. These measurements of voltagechanges due to resistance to spindle travel or the time of the fallingball travel for a standard distance are convened by formula intostandard viscosity units or centipoise (cps). Viscosity is reported ascps units for a 5% settled acidified aqueous solution/suspension of longchained beta glucan. In order to be used as starting material for highviscosity beta glucan products a sample of sound sweet smelling barleymust achieve a viscosity reading of 15 cps or better.

Immediately after completing the viscosity testing a drop of thesupernatant or 1/20 ml and a small portion of that drop, i.e. 1/10, isplaced on a glass microscope slide and an equal amount of 70% ethanol isco-mingled. The ethanol causes the beta glucan chains to precipitate.The resultant suspension of beta glucan chains can be viewed under 100×or higher magnification on a calibrated slide or hemocytometer. Thenumber of long chained beta glucan chain/ml can be determined bycounting the number of long chained, (1 mm-6 mm length, 2-10 microns indiameter), beta glucan chains/field of view times number of fields ofview per coverslip times two, (i.e. the ethanol dilution factor) times200 cover slip sample volumes/ml. The described beta glucan chains canbe viewed under 100× magnification in aqueous solution without theaddition of ethanol but with greater difficulty. Only samples of barleythat have 1×10⁵ long chained beta glucans/ml will be used for theproduction of high beta glucan viscosity products described herein.

Once a suitable lot of seed has been identified it is ground into ameal. The grinding methods can vary but should approximate the grind ofa Udy Cyclone Mill fitted with a 0.5 mm screen. Grinding waxy hulless orwaxy hulless short awn barley in such a manner will yield a barley flourhaving a particular size that ranges from 500 microns to 44 microns,such that 50% of the particles range in size from 250 microns to 106microns. The grinding methods can include hammer mills, roller breakmills, pinmills, and other means that will pulverize the grain. Once thegrain is ground, it is then sieved on a Rotap sifter sizer. The sievefractions or percentage of material that is collected on each of agraduated series of sieves are then compared with that of a sampleprepared with a Udy Cyclone Mill. If the mill fractions are of aboutequal percentage for each grind type then it is assumed that an adequategrind has been achieved.

Beta glucan viscosities and beta glucan chain analyses are conducted onthe ground grain and compared to Udy Cyclone Mill ground to insure thatquality of the beta glucan has not been compromised by grindingtechnique.

The sieving step can take place after grinding as a separate but relatedprocess. It can take place at the same time as the grinding. This wouldoccur in series with the ground material flowing to a stack of sieves ina sifter box, or as rotating drum sifter sieves. In the case of a modemroller break mill, the grinding and sifting steps occur concurrentlywith many roller break mills ripping open seeds of grain and releasingstarchy endosperm with constant sizing, sifting, regrinding, pneumaticpurification, and air sifting all occurring concurrently. At the end ofthe process separate sieve fractions are collected. It is in thecollections of these mill (sieve) fractions that the unique productsderived from high beta glucan viscosity barley emerge.

The bran fraction that is collected as the overs on a U.S. #40 sievewith beta glucan viscosities ranging from 50 cps-100 cps.

However, in the flour fractions, U.S. #60 sieve to U.S. #200 sieve, anunexpected and unique result occurred. Long chained beta glucan wascollected and concentrated in these coarse to fine flour fractions.Within the series of sieves from U.S. #60 to U.S. #200 individual flourfractions can be collected, which can range in beta glucan viscosityfrom 200 cps-3000 cps, and with concentrations of long chained betaglucan molecules ranging from 1×10⁶ to 1×10⁹ per ml of a 5% flour/watersuspension.

A fine flour through fraction will collect somewhere below the U.S. #80to U.S. #200 sieve with essentially no viscous beta glucan and viscositybelow 5 cps.

During the sieving step grades of flour can be produced and are depictedin the Table 1. The beta glucan viscosity and microscopic long chainedbeta glucan analysis is measured on each sieve fraction. The beta glucanrich flour fractions can be easily identified because they have about3/4 of the bulk density of flour 0.35 g/cc. The richer beta glucan flourfractions will tend to be even lighter or 0.35-0.25 g/cc. The throughflour fraction which is essentially devoid of viscosity will have normalfine flour bulk density of about 0.48 g/cc.

Table 1 presents a hypothetical sieve profile. However in real practice,different barley samples can vary greatly in amount and quality of betaglucan flours that are yielded. Most of this variability is due todifferences in starting material. The starting material must have atleast 15 cps viscosity and 1.0×10⁵ long chained beta glucan/ml, but somesamples of waxy hulless and waxy hulless short awn barley may haveviscosities greater than 200 cps and a long chained beta glucanconcentration that exceeds 1.0×10⁶ /ml of a 5% aqueous flour suspension.The flours that result from such a sample will tend to be in the ultrahigh viscosity range. Conversely samples with 15 cps viscosity and1.0×10⁵ /ml long chain count will tend to produce high viscosity betaglucan flours. Also subtle differences in grinding technique, moisturelevel of seed, relative humidity of surrounding atmosphere and otherfactors can effect the extraction efficiency, and the sieve fractions inwhich the long chained beta glucan concentrate. Only by testing theresulting sieve fractions for viscosity and long chained beta glucan/mlcan the desired beta glucan rich flours be identified; the bulk densityfactor is also used as an immediate guide to selection of flour streamsrich in long chained beta glucan.

The fine flour low beta glucan viscosity fraction can be quite easilyidentified by it's bulk density of about 0.48 g/cc. Again, depending onthe particular samples and exact milling conditions, this fraction canoccur as throughs of sieve U.S. #100 sieve to U.S. #200 sieve. Thissieve fraction can only be identified by measuring bulk density and betaglucan viscosity.

In order to obtain a more concentrated high viscosity beta glucan flour,individual sieve fractions may be resieved any number of times; bulksifters like the Rotap Sifter Sizer can be run for longer periods oftime, e.g. 5 to 30 minutes, and sample sizes reduced. In some casessieve fractions may be blended to achieve a desired beta glucanviscosity and/or concentration of long chained beta glucan in aparticular flour or bran fraction. While the different sievingcombinations can be infinite in number, the resultant products aregenerally the same with the proportion of each variable to the extentthat in some cases some products may be eliminated altogether. This isthe case when the bran fraction is remilled continually until it passesa U.S. #40 sieve, essentially eliminating the bran fraction.

Sample collection from the sieves can be by gravity flow, manualremoval, i.e. Rotap sieves are simply emptied by hand, sieve is turnedover and dumped, pneumatic flow, or a combination of gravity/pneumaticflow. Since most modem milling systems are designed to minimize starchgranule damage, the gravitational/pneumatic systems that are employedfor collection in the modem roller break mills are generally gentle onthe long chained beta glucans. However the testing steps describedherein will insure that no damage from collection techniques willcompromise product quality.

When pearled grain in which 10%-20% of the seed (bran/germ layers) ispearled away, is used as the starting material in the described processthe same products are produced but are cleaner with less microbialactivity and lower oil content, i.e., less than 2%. The four productsdescribed in the basic invention would have an oil content of 3% orgreater. All grain discoloration and microbial activity is concentratedin the outer layers of barley seed, pearling will remove much or all ofthis undesirable material. Also, 90% of the oil in the seed isconcentrated in the germ layer; pearling will remove much or all of thegerm layer, thus greatly reducing oil content of the pearled grain. Withthe introduction of the pearling step an additional material isproduced; which is the pearling fraction. The 10%-20% of the outer seedlayer was pearled off to produce the pearled grain for processing. Sincethis pearled fraction has much of the tocotrienol rich germ and aleuronelayers and is high in oil, i.e., 7% to 10%, it is a good source ofcholesterol reducing tocotrienol and concentrates this material about2.5 to 3 times (62.5 g-75 g/kg) over whole grain. The products derivedfrom the pearled grain are shown in Table 2.

The waxy hulless and waxy hulless short awn barley used in theproduction of the products described in Tables 1 and 2 results in flourthat will contain the soft, (100% amylopectin) waxy starch. Soft waxyhulless barley pearls differently than normal hard starch. The outerlayers of normal barley chip off resulting in bigger pearling particles.The soft waxy starch barley undergoes slow abrasion of the outer layersresulting in much finer pearling particles. The result is that waxyhulless and waxy hulless short awn barley pearlings have the consistencyof flour passing a U.S. #40 sieve, as compared to normal barleypearlings that are like bran, collecting over a U.S. #40 mesh.Additionally, since waxy hulless and waxy hulless short awn barley ishulless it requires less pearling to remove the germ/pericarp/aleuronelayers, and the pearling product does not contain the harsh hull fiberassociated with the hull material found in normal hulled feed andmalting varieties. Since waxy hulless and waxy hulless short awn barleytypes contain higher levels of long chained beta glucan than normalbarley, the quality of the products produced from this barley issuperior to that produced from normal hulled feed or making barley.

When waxy hulless short awned barley is used as starting material, allflour products will be waxy hulless short awned version. Because shortawned types contain a larger percentage of a large, (20 to 40 microns indiameter), starch granules than long awned barley, the resultant waxyhulless short awned grain will be softer than waxy hulless grain and theresultant flours will be softer also, containing a greater percentage ofthe large starch granules. Also waxy hulless short awned types containmore viscous long chained beta glucan than waxy hulless types, resultingin superior long chained beta glucan flour and bran products, and aswith waxy hulless grain, the pearling fraction will come off as a flourfraction.

Heat treatment of grain is a variation of the basic invention in whichthe grain types described herein (waxy hulless barley, and waxy hullessshort awned barley) are heat treated by cooking, steaming, infranizing(cooked with infrared rays), micronized (cooked with microwaves),roasting or popping (puffing). All these heat treatments will heat theinterior of the seed to a temperature greater than 100 degreesCentigrade, over a period of time from 1 to 15 minutes. This has theeffect of killing microbes and inactivating enzyme systems, such asperoxidase and lipase, within the seed that may degrade derived foodproducts by creating off tastes and rancidity. These heat treatmentswill increase shelf life of the viscous long chained beta glucan flourand bran products described herein. These same heat treatments caninactivate endogenous beta glucanase enzymes that degrade beta glucanand reduce chain length and viscosity when the described long chainedviscous beta glucan flour and bran products are put into neutral pH 7aqueous solution. In order to preserve beta glucan chains all these heattreatments must be accomplished with adequate moisture in the seed, noless than 12%, or must be moisture driven processes (steaming orpressure cooking). Drying heat of 75 to 100 degrees Centigrade over aprolonged period of time, i.e., greater than 5 minutes, will destroy andbreak up long chained beta glucan with a resultant loss of all clinicalviscosity. Heat treated barley, waxy hulless barley, waxy hulless shortawned barley can also be pearled subsequent to heat treatment and thentested and sieved as per the described basic invention to yield thepreviously described products. These heat treated grains, either wholegrained or subsequently pearled, will give rise to stabilized versionsof all the previously described products.

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                        Milling Whole Grain                                                           Sieve Stack                                                                   U.S. #  Viscosity                                                                              Products                                                     ______________________________________                                        Over #20                                                                               60 cps  Viscous Bran Fractions                                       Over #40                                                                               80 cps  "                                                            Over #60                                                                              200 cps  High Viscosity Beta Glucan Flour                             Over #80                                                                              400 cps  "                                                            Over #100                                                                             500 cps  "                                                            Over #120                                                                             800 cps  "                                                            Over #140                                                                             1500 cps "                                                            Throughs                                                                               3 cps   Low Viscosity (high starch) Barley Flour                     ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 2                                                         ______________________________________                                        Whole Grain Pearled                                                           Sieve Stack                                                                           Viscosity                                                                              Products                                                     ______________________________________                                                   Pearling fraction (high tocotrienol)                               ______________________________________                                        Milling Pearled Grain                                                         Sieve Stack                                                                   U.S. #  Viscosity                                                                              Products                                                     ______________________________________                                        Over #20                                                                               60 cps  Low oil viscous bran fractions                               Over #40                                                                               80 cps  "                                                            Over #60                                                                              120 cps  Low oil high viscosity beta glucan flour                     Over #80                                                                              400 cps  "                                                            Over #100                                                                             500 cps  "                                                            Over #120                                                                             800 cps  "                                                            Over #140                                                                             1500 cps "                                                            Throughs                                                                               3 cps   Low oil low viscosity high starch barley                                      flour                                                        ______________________________________                                    

EXAMPLES

The following examples are provided to further illustrate the presentinvention and are not intended to limit the invention beyond thelimitations set forth in the appended claims.

Example 1

The method of the present invention produces both high beta glucan andhigh viscosity barley grain. First, a waxy hulless or waxy hulless shortawn barley variety must be grown that can achieve levels of viscous betaglucan greater than 15 cps. Normal feed and malting barley is a hulledgrain in which the flowering glumes are fused to the seed. The starchyendosperm consists of hard starch granules composed of straight chainedamylose and branched amylopectin. The amylose serves to cement and bindthe branched amylopectin to produce a hard starch granule. Waxy hullessbarley is a form of the grain in which the hulls are not cemented to theseed. Thus at harvest the seed either threshes free of the hulls or theyare loosely held on the seed and can be polished or blown off quiteeasily. The starch of the waxy grain is composed of 100% amylopectin.This results in a very soft starch granule that is far more digestibleby heat, chemical, or enzymes than normal starch. Also; most barleyvarieties will not produce long chained beta glucans and high viscosityunder any circumstances. The viscosity of beta glucan is related to twofactors, content and chain length, with chain length being the dominantfactor in most high beta glucan barley varieties.

The combination of the two recessive genes for waxy (wx wx) and hulless(n n) in barley produced the unexpected result of enhanced beta glucanlevels. When these 2 genes were backcrossed into a number of barleyvarieties, the beta glucan content and viscosity always increased. Somewaxy hulless barley varieties include: Bob, Wanubet, Shonkin, WaxyHulless Robust, Waxy Hulless Azure, Waxy Hulless Excel.

By adding the short awn gene (lk2 lk2), this results in another increaseof beta glucan content. The normal condition in barley is the long awn(LK2 LK2). This effect on beta glucan content will occur only in thepresence of the other two waxy and hulless genes. In the case of waxyhulless types, the short awn trait will often more than double the betaglucan viscosity. Some waxy hulless short awned barley varietiesinclude: Apollo, Waxbar, Washonupana, and Pronghorn. The waxy and shortawned conditions result in no loss yield. The hulless trait results in a10%-15% loss of yield due to hulls left in the field. This loss is morethan compensated for by the increased value of the hulless gain. In anumber of these varieties the waxy gene by itself is enough to increasebeta glucan above the 15 cps level of viscosity.

While beta glucan content can be increased significantly with theincorporation of the waxy, hulless and short awn genes (wx wx, n n, lk2lk2), there are certain existing varieties that are not (waxy hulless)but still have very high levels of beta glucan and beta glucanviscosity. It has been observed that these varieties have very thickcell wall. The malting variety Azure is an example of such a variety.When the waxy and hulless genes are added to such a variety the betaglucan levels increase to a new plateau. For example; a sample of Azurecan achieve viscosities in the 25-30 cps range. The waxy hulless versionof Azure can achieve viscosities in the 100-250 cps range. Most waxyhulless barley varieties have viscosities that fall in the 15-60 cpsrange, most waxy hulless short awn barley varieties have viscosities inthe 20-100 cps range. Normal hulled feed and malting barleys haveviscosities in the 3-5 cps range.

Example 2

For best results, waxy hulless or waxy hulless short awn barley shouldbe planted on well drained soil with good fertility levels. Generally,beta glucan concentration is highly correlated with proteinconcentration. Thus, waxy hulless barley or waxy hulless short awnedbarley, unlike malting barley, can be grown on soil with high levels ofnitrogen. As previously described, beta glucanase breaks down betaglucan molecules. Beta glucanase is important in the germinationprocess, and is activated by moisture imbibed by mature or nearly matureseed. Thus even if the high beta glucan waxy hulless and waxy hullessshort awn barley types are grown in perfect semi-arid environments; thebeta glucan content and more importantly quality, i.e. viscosity andchain length can be eliminated if the mature or nearly mature grain iswetted by rain, dew, high atmospheric humidity, or poorly aeratedwindrows. Therefore, timely harvest is essential. Rain on standing headsis not a serious problem if heads can air dry within 24 hours.

The crooked head, as exemplified by Western Plant Breeders varieties,Antelope and Pronghorn, is a great aid in drying and allows efficientdrying when compared to an erect upright head. Swath grain that israined upon presents a far more serious problem. If possible, waxyhulless or waxy hulless short awn barley should be straight cut by acombine. For a perfect sun cured crop of waxy hulless or waxy hullessshort awn barley, it is far better to harvest early, i.e., any timegrain moisture falls below 35% rather than allow unwanted precipitationto ruin the viscous beta glucan yield. Grain fill and beta glucanaccumulation is complete at 35% grain moisture.

Grain can be harvested any time after reaching 35% moisture and driedgently, i.e., 110 degrees F. to a storage moisture level of 11-13%. Waxyhulless and waxy hulless short awn barley must be harvested and gleanedin an extremely gentle fashion. 50% or more of the cemented hull shouldremain with the seed. The hull will protect the seed from abrasion andthe presence of a high percentage of uncemented hull indicates thatthose seeds that were hulled in the harvest process are undamaged.Scratches or gouges on the seed will speed up the inhibition of moistureand respiration which activates the beta glucanases, which break downthe valuable beta glucan chains. If grain drying is necessary, it shallbe done with ambient air circulation at very low temperatures, i.e.,110° F.-120° F., in a grain dryer. Excessive drying and heat canseverely degrade beta glucan chains; this results in reduced beta glucanviscosity when this material is used in food products. The cause of thisphenomena is not completely understood but it is thought that theshearing and heaving forces created as these fibers dry too rapidly ortoo severely cause breakage in the beta glucan molecular chain. Once thegrain is dried, storage becomes a serious concern. Any rapid fluctuationof temperature resulted in beta glucan damage. Grain can be stored atambient temperatures but aeration must be used when rapid fluctuation oftemperatures might occur.

Example 3

It has been found that by grinding and sieving waxy hulless and waxyhulless short awn barley grain that is high in beta glucan and betaglucan viscosity, that a low (0.35-0.25 g/cc) bulk density fractionoccurs in the flour range as the overs of U.S. #60 to U.S. #200 sieves.This material will have viscosities that are 10 to 30 times that of thestarting material. There will be a fine flour fraction that fallsbeneath the high viscosity fraction, with a bulk density of about 0.48g/cc, and has little or no viscosity. The bran fraction is removed asthe overs on a U.S. #40 sieve. This same phenomena was observed inpearled, and/or heat treated barley grain. Grain is often heat treatedto inactivate enzymes systems that degrade grain quality and this inturn increases shelf life. These heat treating processes can includecooking, steaming, instantizing, micronizing, infranizing, etc. Oftenstarch granules are pasted in such processes, and this creates falsebeta glucan viscosity readings. In order to evaluate heat treatedmaterial the physical presence of the beta glucan chains must beconfirmed.

Under microscopic evaluation it was observed that these high viscositysieve fractions contained at least 1.0×10⁹ long chained beta glucanfibers (1 mm-6 mm in length, 2-10 microns in diameter)/ml of a 5%(flour/water) acidified (pH 2.5-3.0) aqueous solution. It was discoveredthat the viscosity of the fraction was related to the 25 number of longchained beta glucan fibers/ml of solution.

    ______________________________________                                        CPS Range  Long Chained Beta Glucan/ml                                        ______________________________________                                        200-500    5.0 × 10.sup.8 to 1.0 × 10.sup.9                        500-1000  1.0 × 10.sup.9 to 2.0 × 10.sup.9                       1000-3000  2.0 × 10.sup.9 to 4.0 × 10.sup.9                       ______________________________________                                    

Also, smaller portions of extremely long beta glucan chains wereobserved 1 to 10 cm in length. This microscopic method of evaluatingbeta glucan quality was termed beta glucan chain analysis. Only by usingmicroscopic beta glucan chain analysis and beta glucan viscosity testtogether can the true clinical value of heat treated seed be determined,because some of the viscosity in these materials can be created bypasted starch. The concentration of intact long chained beta glucanfiber confirm clinical functionality of such material.

The length of the beta glucan strands far exceeded the size of thestarch granules and actually exceeded the length or width of the cellsfrom which they are derived. The actual physical length of beta glucanmolecules was never thought to be of this dimension. The molecules mustbe interwoven and overlapped to fit into one cell wall. Possibly thismaterial is contiguous from cell wall to cell wall i.e., it transversesmultiple cells. These beta glucan strands are not dissolving in water aswas previously thought but remained in suspension as whole hydratedstrands. Upon hydration they expand which is why more and more are seenover time and temperature which speeds up the kinetics.

Example 4

The strands and chunks of cell wall material are collected on top of theU.S. #80-200 sieves while the starch granules fall through the holes.When high viscosity waxy hulless and waxy hulless short awn barley waspearled prior to milling or sieving, the beta glucan concentration ofthese light flour fractions was increased by 7-19% and the oil contentof the concentrate reduced from 3-1%. The process of the presentinvention works well with both pearled and unpearled grain. Onepreferred embodiment is the processing of pearled stabilized waxyhulless, or waxy hulless short awned grain. Pearling removes harsh branfiber which has limited clinical value. Also the bran contains no longchained beta glucans so removal of the bran improves the beta glucanconcentrate fraction. Removal of the germ which occurs in pearling,lowers the oil content since oil is concentrated in the germ, andremoves the main source of rancidity.

Unexpectedly, the pearling fraction which came off as a fine powder andhas almost no viscosity. Barley bran oil contains relatively high levelsof a vitamin E derivative that lowers cholesterol by a completelydifferent mechanism than that of beta glucan. These compounds are calledtocotrienols and they reduce serum cholesterol by actually interferingwith the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver (A. A. Qureshi et al, Thestructure of an inhibitor of cholesterol biosynthesis isolated frombarley. J. Biol. Chem. Vol 261: 10544-10550(1992)). Oats does not haveexceptional levels of tocotrienol. Thus waxy hulless barley is the onlycereal that contain two powerful cholesterol reducing agents: longchained beta glucan and tocotrienols. Because of this, the pearlingfraction takes on added value as a concentrated source of tocotrienolwhich has been stabilized to avoid rancidity (always a problem with branproducts), thus it is a high quality source of tocotrienol and avaluable product of our beta glucan concentration process. Clinicalstudies have established the efficacy of both pearled high beta glucanwaxy hulless and waxy hulless short awn barley flour and the tocotrienolrich pearling fraction in serum cholesterol reduction.

Example 5

The mode of milling had a large and unexpected effect on the quality ofderived high viscosity beta glucan flours. When a Udy Cyclone mill wasused, the pore size of the filter screen had an influence on the solublefiber content and associated viscosity. As the pore size decreased from3.0 mm to 0.5 mm the soluble fiber increased. This same effect was seenin the hammer mills along with an additional factor-power. When filterscreen size was held constant, the more powerful mills yielded higherlevels of soluble fiber. Finally, the more sophisticated roller breakmills designed to rip open the seed endosperm releasing starch granulesand protein bodies yielded even higher levels of soluble beta glucan.Just as the aforementioned heat treatments released beta glucan from thecell wall by physical heaving and shearing forces that beak up cellwalls and release beta glucan strands, so did these milling techniques.They provide powerful shearing and tipping forces that releaseadditional beta glucan chains from the cell wall, beyond that which canbe released by heating alone.

The sifting and sieving associated with each milling system also had aninfluence on soluble beta glucan extraction and yield. The more of thespherical starch granules that can be sifted away from the beta glucanfibers, the more concentrated the beta glucan concentrate becomes. Againthe more sophisticated roller break mill system with the rapid flow rateand the self cleaning sieve screens is more effective than a staticstack of sieves on a Rotap sifter. In general, sifting motion is gentleon the beta glucan strands. Air classifications systems that rely on agreat deal of centrifugal force break up the valuable beta glucanstrands. A sifting system that gently shakes the starch granules loosewithout breaking the beta glucan chains is an excellent system toconcentrate beta glucan chains as a dry milled product.

The beta glucan concentrate, i.e., the light flour fraction derived fromthe raw flour of high viscosity waxy hulless and waxy hulless short awnbarley contain endogenous beta glucanase which break up the beta glucanupon hydration and quickly destroy viscosity. The human digestive systemquickly inactivates this enzyme with a highly acid stomach pH ofapproximately 2.5 and potent protease activity in the stomach andintestines. Thus the high viscosity waxy hulless and waxy hulless shortawn barley retains it's functionality in the human digestive system.Also, food preparation, such as cooking or boiling will destroy thisbeta glucanase activity with temperatures above 100° C. However in thepreparation of food products where hydration of the beta glucanconcentrate must occur at a neutral pH range such as above 3 and below10, and there is no cooking step, then the physical functionality andviscosity can be lost. This may be a product formulation problem whenthe concentrate is used as a gum or hydroscopic food ingredient, and maybe a clinical problem if viscosity is lost before ingestion by humansubjects. Thus to insure optimum efficacy and functionality of any highbeta glucan product or concentrate, it is necessary to inactivate thebeta glucanase enzyme that coexist with the beta glucans. The methodsthat can be used to inactivate beta glucanase include steam cooking,roasting, puffing, infranization and micronization. All these methodsgenerating heat in the seed to destroy enzyme activity.

Example 6

In food products, the stability of the high viscosity waxy hulless andwaxy hulless short awn barley concentrate imparted by the aforementionedtechniques also inactivates other undesirable enzyme systems includingperoxidase, lipases, proteases and amylases which cause poor taste,reduce quality, and shorten shelf life. This stability greatly enhancesthe attractiveness and usefulness of a high viscosity beta glucanconcentrate as a food and food ingredient. It also enhances the value ofthe by products of the concentration process, yielding stable flour,bran, and germ fractions. As described earlier, the waxy hulless or waxyhulless short awned barley is stabilized as grain as soon after harvestas is possible. Thus the stabilization step was conducted on the frontend of the processing described herein; that is, before milling andsifting.

Example 7

A sample of high beta glucan, high viscosity (20 cps) waxy hullessbarley (Merlin) was milled using a Udy Cyclone Mill fitted with a 0.5 mmscreen. 350 grams of the flour was fed into a Rotap Sifter Siever withthe following stack of sieves. Viscosities were conducted at a pH of 25.

The following sieve fractions were obtained:

    ______________________________________                                        Sieve Fraction            Long Chained Beta                                   U.S. #       Viscosity    Glucan/ml of Sol-                                   thru    over     Yield    (cps) ution/Suspension                              ______________________________________                                                 60      12.2     135   3.0 × 10.sup.8                           60      80      26.0     488   1.0 × 10.sup.9                           80     100      45.4     6                                                   100     120      15.7     2                                                   120               0.6     2                                                   ______________________________________                                    

Example 8

A sample of high beta glucan viscosity (20 cps) waxy hulless short awnedbarley (Apollo) was infranized (heat treated with infrared waves) toinactivate peroxidase and lipase enzyme systems. The infranized grain(33.4 cps) was ground in a Udy Cyclone Mill fitted with a 0.5 mm screen.One hundred grams of the resultant flour was fed into a Rotap SifterSiever with the following stack of sieves measured as U.S. Mesh numbersand run for 10 minutes.

The following sieve fractions were obtained (viscosities were conductedat a beta glucanase inactivating pH of 10):

    ______________________________________                                        Sieve Fraction                                                                U.S. #                                                                        thru      over          Yield Viscosity (cps)                                 ______________________________________                                                   60           18.6  67.8                                             60       100           19.0  175.9                                           100       140           9.2   647.1                                           140                     53.3  6.6                                             ______________________________________                                    

Example 9

A sample of high beta glucan high viscosity (40 cps) waxy hulless barleyWanubet was heat roasted in silica media to produce a sample of puffedgrain. The puffed grain was pin milled and then run for 30 minutes in aRotap sifter siever with the following stack of sieves measured as U.S.mesh numbers.

The following sieve fractions were obtained:

    ______________________________________                                        Sieve Fraction                                                                U.S. #                                                                        thru          over   Viscosity (cps)                                          ______________________________________                                         40            80     26                                                       80           100     12                                                      100           140    135                                                      140           200    400                                                      200                   3                                                       Water                 3                                                       ______________________________________                                    

Example 10

A sample of high beta glucan, high viscosity (40 cps) waxy hullessbarley Wanubet was heat roasted in a gas-flash roasting system toproduce a sample of very high beta glucan popped grain. The whole grainwas hammer milled and then run for 30 minutes in a Rotap sifter sizerwith the following stack of U.S. mesh sieves.

The following sieve fractions were obtained:

    ______________________________________                                        Sieve Fraction                                                                U.S. #                                                                        thru    over      Sample wt. (g)                                                                            Viscosity (cps)                                 ______________________________________                                         20      40       28.4         58                                              40      80       84.0        350                                              80     100       25.3        800                                             100     140       28.0        400                                             140     200       22.4        400                                             200               113.6        3                                              Water                          3                                              ______________________________________                                    

Example 11

A sample of high viscosity (40 cps) waxy hulless short awn barley Apollowas pearled to remove bran and germ seed component, about 15% of thetotal seed weight was removed. The grain was then hammer milled to passa 4/64 inch fractionated on a Rotap sifter siever, with the followingsieve fractions obtained:

    ______________________________________                                        Sieve                                                                         Fraction                                                                      U.S.#   Sample             Long Chained Beta Glucan                           thru over   Wt.     Viscosity cps                                                                          per ml of solution/suspension                    ______________________________________                                              80    219 g    218     5.0 × 10.sup.8                              80  120     18 g   1240     2.0 × 10.sup.9                             120         159 g     3                                                       ______________________________________                                    

Example 12

A sample of high viscosity (20 cps) waxy hulless short awn barley Apollowas flaked and instantized using the patented equipment and processes ofFlakee Mills, Lincoln, Nebr. under U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,619. The grainwas then coarse milled and then remilled through a Udy Cyclone Millfitted with a 1 mm screen. The viscosity of the samples derived fromthat process are listed below:

    ______________________________________                                        Instantized Flour Viscosity                                                                   Viscosity (cps)                                               Treatment         pH 7.0  pH 2.5                                              ______________________________________                                        Untreated Flour   2.0      20.0                                               Coarse Grind      9.0     139.0                                               Fine Regrind      7.0     575.0                                               ______________________________________                                    

Example 13

The coarse meal was remilled to flour in a roller break reflux mill atRoman Meal Milling in Fargo, N. Dak. The coarse meal went through rollerbreak mills, reduction roller mills, and purifier rolls. Particlescollected on a U.S. #40 mesh sieve were refluxed to a high poweredhammermill fitted with a 3/64 inch round holed screen reground and fedback to the reduction/purifier rolls; this was done continuously untilthe over U.S. #40 sieve fraction was eliminated. The U.S. #40 over #80fraction was collected, along with the U.S. #80 sieve fraction. Theyield and viscosity of those fractions are listed below:

    ______________________________________                                        Mill Fraction Summary for Instantized Waxy Hulless                            Short Awn Barley                                                              Mill Fraction                                                                 U.S. # Sieve             Viscosity (cps)                                      thru     over   Yield (%)    pH 7.0                                                                              pH 3.0                                     ______________________________________                                        40       80     16            8     33                                        80              84           70    2463                                       ______________________________________                                    

The bran fraction that is derived from this process is quite valuable asa by-product. It is a good source of partially digested bran fiber withhigh levels of soluble fiber or beta glucan. Also it should beemphasized that the instantization process partially stabilized both thebran and patent flour fractions for lipase and peroxidase activity thiswill extend shelf life of both products.

Example 14

A sample of high viscosity, i.e., 20 cps, waxy hulless short awn barleyvariety Apollo, was stabilized with infrared energy using the patentedequipment and processes of Flakee Mills, Lincoln, Nebr. in U.S. Pat. No.5,024,145. This process had the effect of inactivating the endogenousenzyme systems such as lipases, peroxidases, beta glucanases, proteases,and amylases. A sample of this grain was milled on a Udy Cyclone Millfitted with a 1 mm screen. The viscosity of this material was measuredat a pH of 7, i.e., 15 cps and at a pH of 3.0, i.e., 28 cps. Thismaterial was reground on a Udy Cyclone Mill fitted with a 0.5 mm screen.The viscosity of this material was measured at a pH of 7 (23 cps) and ata pH of 3 (140 cps). As expected the finer grind enhanced the extractionof soluble beta glucan from the cell walls which was evidenced by thehigher viscosities for the finer ground samples. 100 grams of the finelyground, using a 0.5 mm screen, whole grain flour was placed in a RotapSifter Siever with the following stack of U.S. mesh screens, and siftedfor 10 minutes.

The following sieve fractions were obtained:

    ______________________________________                                        Sieve Fraction                                                                U.S. #       Yield (grams)                                                                            Viscosity (cps) at pH 7                               ______________________________________                                         40 over 60  1.4        17                                                     60 over 80  23.6       368                                                    80 over 100 14.7       530                                                   100 over 140 47.5       7                                                     140 over Pan 11.1       6                                                     thru Pan     5.1        5                                                     Water                   3                                                     ______________________________________                                    

The result of this procedure produced a number of desired and unexpectedresults. The soluble long chained beta glucans accumulated almostentirely on the over U.S. #80 sieve fraction. It should be noted thatthere really was no U.S. #40 over U.S. #60 sieve fraction. The materialon the U.S. #40 sieve was composed entirely of fine material thatrefluxed up through the lower screens. The fineness of the grindessentially eliminated this material. The cleanness of the separation ofthe long-chained beta glucan from the high starch was unexpected. The39.7% yield of beta glucan concentrate or the over U.S. #80 fractions,was much higher than expected. Based on the above fractionation analysisa commercial scale procedure was designed and conducted on about 3000lbs of grain. The steps in that process are the following: 1 ) Thestabilized waxy hulless short awn barley grain was pearled to removebran fiber and germ fractions. This was accomplished with a Sataki ricedehuller. 2) The pearling fraction came off as an attractive finetextured fraction, comprising about 15% of the seed weight. 3) Thepearled stabilized grain was milled and fractionated using the RollerBreak Reflux Milling System of Roman Mill Milling, Fargo, N. Dak. Thismilling system is a proprietary system developed by Roman Meal Millingas an all purpose, flexible, grinding, and fractionation system. Themill was set up with the following stack of screens:

Roller Break Reflux Mill Sieve Stack

    ______________________________________                                        U.S # Sieve                                                                   thru    over                                                                  ______________________________________                                                40          Coarse Particle Collector                                 40      80          Mid Range Particle Collector                              80                  Fine Flour Collector                                      ______________________________________                                    

The pearled grain was introduced into the system and run through theroller break mills, reduction roller mills, and purifier rolls.Particles collected on a U.S. #40 sieve were refluxed to a high poweredhammermill fitted with a 3/64 inch round holed screen, reground and fedback to the reduction/purifier rolls; this was done continuously untilthe over U.S. #40 sieve fraction was eliminated. The U.S. #40 over U.S.#80 sieve fraction was collected, along with the over U.S. #80 sievefraction, and thru U.S. #80 sieve portion. The yield and viscosity ofthose fractions along with the pearling fraction are listed below.

Mill Fraction Summary For Stablized Waxy Hulless Short Awn Barley

    ______________________________________                                                             Viscosity (cps)                                          Mill Fraction  Yield(%)    pH 7.0  pH 3.0                                     ______________________________________                                        Pearlings      13.6         3       3                                         Over U.S. #80 Sieve                                                                          34.7        978     331                                        thru U.S. #80 Sieve                                                                          51.7         19     190                                        ______________________________________                                    

The yield and quality of the stabilized long chained, beta glucan, ultrahigh viscosity concentrate, i.e., the over #80 U.S. sieve fraction had ayield of 34.7% of total finished product and a viscosity of 978 cps (pH7).

The pearling fraction is most interesting in that it is totally devoidof beta glucan activity when measured as viscosity. The germ and bran ofbarley contain another cholesterol-reducing compound called tocotrienol,that lowers cholesterol by a completely different mechanism than theviscous beta glucan. Tocotrienols is a fat soluble Vitamin E derivativewhich inhibits the production of cholesterol in the liver. Thus, thispearlings fraction is a stabilized tocotrienol concentrate, which initself is a valuable food ingredient. The separation that the pearlingstep provides removal of the fat concentrated in the germ where it is aliability. Low fat high beta glucan flours are the desired product.Pearling reduces the fat content in both products from 3% to about 1%,and puts the fat where they are valuable, in a tocotrienol concentrate.

Example 15

The products that have been described in Examples 9 through 14 wouldhave some unique product applications.

The heat treated and non-heat treated ultra high viscosity beta glucan(dry milled) extracts would be useful as a sure source of clinicallyactive beta glucan to be used as an ingredient in baked food products.Both can be used in place of other less active forms of fiber supplementsuch as oat bran, wheat bran, and many other products. These productscan also stove as ingredients in processed foods such as extrudedcereals, i.e., flakes, nuggets, o's, etc. and other cooking processes.Cooking enhances the clinical properties of this material. This materialcan also replace some non-cereal based components of food products inbaked goods for example, the added fats and gums can be replaced withthis product. In foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers, this materialcan be used as a water binding agent and fat substitute. In short, thismaterial is an excellent source of clinically active soluble fiber, thatcan be blended in a wide range of food products. It's presence in thesefood products often allows the removal or reduction of other lessdesirable ingredients such as oils, and gum.

The concentrates that were derived from pearled grain would be used inthe same applications that were described above. However, the lower oilcontent of about 1% renders them more desirable ingredients for manyproduct applications.

The by-products derived from the above examples, also have usefuleconomic value. The high starch fractions contain high levels (70%) ofwaxy starch which has great value as an industrial starch. The highstarch fractions from all examples can be used as high grade startingmaterial for starch, syrup, glucose, maltose, fructose, sugar or ethanolproduction. These fractions can also be used as flour with special valueas cookie flour. A most attractive use of the isolated starch fractionswould be for use as adjunct, or starch source, in the beer brewingprocess. At the present time barley is not used in this process asadjunct because of excessive levels of viscous beta glucan. It is forthis reason that corn grits and rice serve as the starch source in themash cook of starchy grain and malted barley to form the sweet wortwhich is then fermented to beer. The aforementioned milling and sievingsteps remove the unwanted long chained beta glucans rendering a nonviscous starch source. This should be attractive to brewers, allowingproduction of an all barley beer, with an adjunct that contains all theflavor components favorably associated with beer. This adjunct also hasthe advantage of being composed entirely of soft waxy starch, whichwould reduce the mashing temperature requirement by 20° C. because waxybarley starch dissolves in water at a temperature (55° C. vs. 75° C.)that is 20° C. lower than normal. The bran fractions can be used in thesame fashion as oat bran and other such products with an advantage ofrelative low fat content of 2-3% versus oat bran's 7-9%. The pearlingfraction created in Example 11 has special value in that the outerlayers of the seed are targeted for removal in the pearling process.This manner of bran removal has the effect of removing the bran and thegerm material as a single fraction. This has the effect of concentratingTocotrienol, an oil soluble vitamin E derivative, which is an additionalcholesterol reducing agent which is contained in barley but not oats.The pearling fraction can be used in the same manner as wheat germ as acereal based food ingredient however with the benefit of a cholesterolreducing agent not contained in wheat germ (oat germ does not existsince it is not commercially possible to remove and concentrate the oatgerm).

Example 16

Comparisons of yield, percent beta glucan, and beta glucan viscosityamong samples of waxy hulless barley and corresponding normal hulledparental types were obtained at Fisher, Minn. in 1992. Beta glucanconcentration analyses were conducted by the University of Minnesota.Viscosity tests were conducted at North Dakota State University. Allwaxy hulless barley varieties were developed by and are the property ofWestern Plant Breeders/Barkley Seed Inc.

    ______________________________________                                                            Beta Glucan                                               Variety         Yield (bu)                                                                              Percentage                                                                              Viscosity                                 ______________________________________                                        Robust          80.58     4.9       4.93                                      Waxy Hutless (WH) Robust                                                                      74.89     6.9       21.59                                     MN 562          64.49     4.9       4.99                                      MN 562          63.40     7.9       44.35                                     Excel           85.80     5.1       7.31                                      WH Excel        79.13     8.0       55.12                                     Azure           95.53     5.3       21.85                                     WH Azure        --        8.3       261.11                                    MN574           79.13     4.4       2.78                                      WH 574          --        7.7       29.44                                     ______________________________________                                    

This example clearly illustrates the striking difference between normalbarley and clinically active viscous barley, which in this case areprimarily waxy hulless types. The normal hulled barley Azure alsoqualifies with viscosity greater than 15 cps. Not all samples of azurecan achieve this level of viscosity.

Example 17

During microscopic beta glucan chain analysis, a series of observationswere made. The beta glucan chain lengths were maintained in an acidified(pH 2.5-3.0) aqueous solution (5% flour/water) for about 4 hours. Theaddition of ethanol to the solution had been diluted 10 to 1 with waterresulting in a viscosity of 5 cps or less. Accompanied by gentlestirring this resulted in the long chained beta glucans diving to thebottom of the slide while the suspended starch granules remainedsuspended and were subsequently washed away with water. The resultingconcentration of long chained beta glucan fiber was left adhering to theslide. Repeated washing with water removed all starch with a resultingpure beta preparation of clinically active long chained beta glucan.

This method of isolating and purifying beta glucan is far superior toany existing method that employs elevated temperatures (100 degreesCentigrade), and the use of enzyme systems to remove starch and protein,and many digestion, washing, centrifugation, washing and purificationsteps, rendering such procedures economically unfeasible. This method onthe other hand can be easily applied in a commercial setting. It shouldbe noted that the unique aspect of this invention is that the betaglucan chains are treated as suspended fiber, not dissolved molecules.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of producing high viscosity waxy hullessbarley flour fractions with beta glucan viscosity between about 100 toabout 3000 cps, and a concentration of long chained beta glucan fibersranging from about 1.0×10⁶ to about 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a 5% aqueous floursuspension, the method comprising the following steps:selecting barleygrain having a waxy hulless genotype and beta glucan viscosity greaterthan about 15 cps and long chained beta glucan concentration greaterthan about 1.0×10⁵ /ml of a 5% aqueous flour suspension; milling saidgrain in such a manner to approximate the grind of a mill fitted with a0.5 mm screen to generate a coarse barley flour; screening the coarsebarley flour over approximately a U.S. Sieve Number 40 mesh screen toremove the coarse bran fraction; collecting the particles passing theapproximately U.S. Sieve Number 40 mesh screen as a barley flourfraction; classifying the barley flour fraction using mesh screens thatrange from about U.S. Sieve Number 60 to about U.S. Sieve Number 200;analyzing resultant flour fractions for beta glucan viscosity, insuringthat measured values range from about 100 to about 3000 cps; analyzingthe resultant flour fractions for long chained beta glucanconcentration, insuring that measured values range from about 1.0×10⁶ toabout 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a 5% aqueous flour suspension; selecting highviscosity flour fractions for final flour formulation.
 2. A highviscosity waxy hulless barley flour fractions with beta glucan viscositybetween about 100 to about 3000 cps, and a concentration of long chainedbeta glucan fibers ranging from about 1.0×10⁶ to about 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a5% aqueous flour suspension, produced by the method of claim
 1. 3. Thebarley flour fraction of claim 2, wherein the barley flour fraction ismade from barley grain having a waxy hulless short awn genotype.
 4. Thebarley flour fraction of claim 2, wherein lipase and peroxidase enzymeshave been inactivated by heat treatment of whole barley grain.
 5. Thebarley flour fraction of claim 4, wherein the barley flour fraction ismade from barley grain having a waxy hulless short awn genotype.
 6. Ahigh viscosity, low oil, waxy hulless barley flour having flourfractions with beta glucan viscosity between about 100 and about 3000cps, a concentration of long chained beta glucan fibers ranging fromabout 1.0×10⁶ to about 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a 5% aqueous flour suspension, andan oil content of less than about, 2%, produced by a process whichcomprises:selecting barley grain having a waxy hulless genotype and betaglucan viscosity greater than about 15 cps and long chained beta glucanconcentration greater than about 1.0×10⁵ /ml of a 5% aqueous floursuspension; pearling said barley grain in such a manner that about 10%to about 20% of the seed including bran and germ layers, is abradedaway; milling said barley grain in such a manner to approximate thegrind of a mill fitted with a 0.5 mm screen to generate a coarse barleyflour; screening the coarse barley flour over approximately a U.S. SieveNumber 40 mesh screen to remove remaining coarse bran fraction;collecting the parades passing the approximately U.S. Sieve Number 40mesh screen as a barley flour fraction; classifying the barley flourfraction employing mesh screens that range from about U.S. Sieve Number60 to about U.S. Sieve Number 200; analyzing the resultant flourfractions for beta glucan viscosity, insuring that measured values rangefrom about 100 to about 3000 cps; analyzing the resultant flourfractions for long chained beta glucan concentration, insuring thatmeasured values range from about 1.0×10⁶ to about 1.0×10⁹ /ml of a 5%aqueous flour suspension; and selecting high viscosity flour fractionsfor final flour formulation.
 7. The flour of claim 6 in the waxy hullessshort awn form, wherein the flour is made from barley having a waxyhulless short awn genotype.
 8. The flour of claim 6 in the heatstabilized form, wherein lipase and peroxidase enzymes have beeninactivated by heat treatment of the whole grain.
 9. The flour of claim8 in the waxy hulless short awn form, wherein the flour is made frombarley having a waxy hulless short awn genotype.
 10. A waxy hulless,high tocotrienol, low viscosity, pearling fraction with tocotrienolconcentration of about 60 to about 75 mg/kg, produced by a process whichcomprises the steps of:selecting barley grain having a waxy hullessgenotype and beta glucan viscosity greater than about 15 cps and longchained beta glucan concentration greater than about 1.0×10⁵ /ml of a 5%aqueous flour suspension; pearling said barley grain in such a mannerthat about 10% to about 20% of the seed including the bran and germlayers, is abraded away; and collecting the pearlings.
 11. The pearlingfractions of claim 10 in the waxy hulless short awn form, wherein theflour is made from barley having a waxy hulless short awn genotype. 12.The pearling fraction of claim 10 in the heat stabilized form, whereinlipase and peroxidase enzymes have been inactivated by heat treatment ofthe whole grain.
 13. The pearling fraction of claim 12 in the waxyhulless short awn form, wherein the flour is made from barley having awaxy hulless short awn genotype.